Overview

The paper explores some of the opportunities for work-related child care in south-eastern Melbourne - specifically the local government areas of Springvale, Dandenong, Berwick and Cranbourne. Chapter 2 describes government policies on work-related child care; draws outlines of some of the different perspectives applicable, based on different ideologies and resulting in different policy directions; summarises recent child care reports and raises points made by 67 people with a professional interest in work-related child care who were interviewed. Chapter 3 collects published statistical information on the region and describes the history of service development within it, council attitudes, local employment structures, journey-to-work patterns and child care locations. Chapter 4 describes four case studies to indicate the variety of ways that work-related child care may come into being, and obstacles to its realisation. The studies are City of Knox as a local government initiative; Nissan Australia Pty Ltd as a manufacturer initiative/ reaction; the Public Sector Union in Dandenong as a union initiative; and Bayside Industrial Park, Springvale as a developer reaction. The report concludes that little progress has been made in the study region - not one work-related child care centre has been established - and discusses the reasons and implications for child care policy.

AIFS Early Childhood Study Paper No. 3